Niigata at-large district
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| Niigata at-large district | |
|---|---|
| 新潟県選挙区 | |
| Parliamentary constituency for the House of Councillors | |
 | |
| Prefecture | Niigata |
| Electorate | 1,842,601 (as of September 2022)[1] |
| Current constituency | |
| Created | 1947 |
| Seats | 2 |
| Councillors | Class of 2019:
Class of 2022: |
The Niigata at-large district (Japanese: 新潟県選挙区, Hepburn: Niigata-ken senkyoku) is a constituency that represents Niigata Prefecture in the House of Councillors in the Diet of Japan. Since July 2019, it has two Councillors in the 242-member house, a decrease from its previous contingent of 3. Similar to other rural two seat districts in Northern Japan such as the Iwate at-large district, it often shows a willingness to buck the LDP and instead vote for opposition backed candidates, such as in 2019. Nonetheless, the LDP won the district by six points in the 2022 elections, and Uchikoshi only won by a margin of four points.
The constituency represents the entire population of Niigata Prefecture and has 1,925,565 registered voters as of September 2015.[2] Since the first House of Councillors election in 1947 Niigata has elected four Councillors to six-year terms, two at alternating elections held every three years. The district's number of voters is the third-lowest of the 10 prefectures that are represented by four Councillors; by comparison, the Hokkaido, Hyogo at-large district and Fukuoka districts each have more than 4 million voters but are represented by the same number of Councillors as Niigata.[2] To address this malapportionment in representation, a 2015 revision of the Public Officers Election Law decrease the representation of Niigata, Miyagi and Nagano districts to two Councillors while increasing Hyogo, Hokkaido and Fukuoka districts to six Councillors.[3] This change took effect at the 2016 election, after which time, Niigata will elect only one Councillor during every election.
The Councillors currently representing Niigata are:
- Kazuhiro Kobayashi (LDP, first term; term ends in 2028)[4]
- Sakura Uchikoshi (CDP, first term; term ends in 2025)[5][needs update]
